Saturday, April 25, 2009

What a Week


I'm exhausted after this week.  As most of you already know, I'm going to be laid off.  It's not a matter of if, but when.  We're just waiting to get the budget report for the state and that will tell them how many they need to RIF (Reduction in Force).  I'm guessing I'll be done sometime in June.  I'm devastated as this has literally been the best job I've ever had with the best people I've ever worked with.  People are crying and hugging at work, joking about being cut.  It's a weird atmosphere.  

Then on top of all that, our drain pipe in our kitchen has been leaking with some huge holes in it.  See the picture above.  That was the pipe that took all our water out of our sink.  So, it infested our cupboards, drywall, and insulation with mold and so we tore everything out.  After it dried out and we threw our cupboards away, we were faced with the task of finding something else to hold up our heavy butcher block counter and sink.  This week was really tough with my inevitable layoff as a backdrop to all this mess.  We spent a long evening at IKEA and both came back completely wiped out.  Nothing like going to IKEA to make huge decisions with money you don't have.  The next evening was spent at Home Depot making more huge decisions and eating ready-made salads from Trader Joe's.  Then it was time to get to work.  So, I took a personal day from work and attached some wooden table legs to our counter and finally got all the plumbing, electric, etc. finished with the help of my father-in-law and Chris.  Ariana's making a curtain to go around the bottom and then it should finally be done.

I'll be taking another day off on Monday, just to get oriented with my job applications.  I'm keeping my options as open as possible.  I talked with a colleague about starting up some "playgroups" this summer that will be like a mini version of our groups that we run at my work.  It could potentially gross a good amount of income for us.  It is quite stressful, though, to think of having to collect unemployment and not being able to have insurance for a while.  I fear the uncertainty for my family and am being forced to trust God in a way that is more challenging than ever.  I am thankful that this trying circumstance brings about the fruit of trust.  It's a daily choice that, sadly, I'm not willing to make at times.  But I know from God's perspective that this is not a mistake.  It's simply another mile marker on the path he intended for us.  

So, humor has been a valuable distractor from all the chaos and I have had some friends send me some funny material.  This one had both A and I laughing pretty hard.  Despite all the doom and gloom, I am pretty excited about what may be around the next corner.  We'll just have to wait and see.  I'll keep you all posted.

2 comments:

  1. what positive thinking...you are in my prayers!

    Carol

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  2. If you fuzz out your eyes, that picture of your cruddy drain pipe turns into foamy wave rolling in over a green sea.

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